The 12-year-old boy tried for “public apology for an act of terrorism” in Doubs has been found guilty

The 12-year-old boy from Sochaux, in Doubs, who was due to be tried at the end of August by the juvenile judge in Montbéliard for “public apology for an act of terrorism” committed via the internet and “direct incitement to a terrorist act by means of online communication”, was found guilty of “apology for terrorism” and “incitement to acts of terrorism”, reported France Bleu Belfort-Montbéliard and France Bleu Besançon on Wednesday 21 August.

The teenager appeared before the juvenile judge in Montbéliard on Wednesday. He will appear again in seven months to learn his sentence. In the meantime, he remains in a specialized facility. The boy has 10 days to appeal the decision.

As a reminder, the teenager was arrested on June 10 after a report made under Article 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure by the DGSI to the Montbéliard prosecutor’s office. The intelligence services, which were monitoring the minor’s online activities, realized that he was sharing on various social networks publications of videos of executions linked to the Islamic State, jihadist propaganda and other anti-Semitic and homophobic content. The prosecutor’s office then opened an investigation. The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT) did not take charge of the investigation.

During his detention [et non pas en garde à vue, car âgé de moins de 13 ans]the boy had admitted all the facts and according to a police source to franceinfo. He had assumed his anti-Semitism and his homophobia. The prosecutor of Montbéliard had then wanted to emphasize “the significant fragility of the minor”. The magistrate had claimed to have had before him “a child who cried a lot”. For the prosecutor, questions then arose “on the true understanding of what he was consulting.” The boy had been the subject of a psychiatric assessment. The findings did not prevent him from being tried at the end of August.